I don't believe this has been discussed before, so I thought I would share my experience.

After a weekend camping, while DH was doing the slinky thing with the black water, I was inside our B flushing a bit of water into the tank when I noticed water leaking from the back of the toilet. I cleaned up what I could, shut off the valve, then began to wonder what exactly was leaking. Once home, I connected the hose to the camper, turned on the water to the Thetford and felt behind to locate the leak. It seemed to be leaking higher than the thumb screw for the water inlet, and with a mirror, I could tell it was near the top of the water valve. After some browsing on the web, I discovered that the water valve is typically the culprit. Once I found the local RV place had one in stock, I closed the water supply, disconnected the two closet bolts at the base (similar to the house toilet), and the lovely little thing lifted easily from it's mount. I took it directly to my laundry tub and scrubbed the daylights out of it.

On direct inspection, the water valve seemed to be connected by just two screws, so I disconnected those. The picture on the web indicated that O Rings were located on the top, so I gave the valve a tug and it dropped out, BUT was connected to this thick wire thingy. After twisting all sorts of ways, I determined the back section of the toilet had to come off to expose the area where this wire thingy connected. Three screws did the trick. A wee move of the spring for the hand flush mechanism freed the wire thingy so I could disconnect it from the valve.

I noticed at this time that a strap holding the reservoir in place had snapped and wondered if it was loose and leaking from there as well since that area is directly above the water valve. I check the parts list, and think I might have to order the reservoir assembly (as it is not a stock item) to complete the job.

I jump in the shower, then head for the RV store. Let me mention at this time Stoltzfus RV's and Marine is where I shop for parts. The Service Manager there, Terry, is tremendous and a wealth of information. He indicated that as long as he has been in business he has never replaced a reservoir assembly, but has replaced numerous water valves. He didn't believe the reservoir needed replaceing. He did, however, think I should replace the strap holding it in place, but suggested a plastic tie should do the trick and gave me one.

The water valve assembly comes with another foam flange for the base, two screws, the plunger, and the valve. Once home, the installation and putting back together took 10 minutes. Performed a water check and all was dry as a bone. I was surprised at how easy it was to repair.

If I had known how easy it was to remove the Thetford I would have removed it for easier cleaning when I purchsed the unit USED a few months ago..... I'll file that one under "lessons learned".

congrats carol and welcome to rv repair 101. i actually did mine even before i became n rv tech. well i actually rebuilt the whole toilet, seals valves and all. while not the most pleasent job, it is not hard.
steve

Had you cantacted Thedford. You might have received the parts free.
I had a leaky valve on ours. Contacted them. Got free parts plus floor seal. As the correct way to do the repair was remove the toilet.
(per there instructions)

rvten wrote:Had you cantacted Thedford. You might have received the parts free.
I had a leaky valve on ours. Contacted them. Got free parts plus floor seal. As the correct way to do the repair was remove the toilet.
(per there instructions)

Carol, you done good . . . really good. Now that you've been thru it, it'll be easier for you to remember to get some anti-freeze (Pink stuff) thru the valve when you winterize. Should you forget, you'll be repeating this job in March. By the way - what's your hourly rate?

nbounder wrote:Carol, you done good . . . really good. Now that you've been thru it, it'll be easier for you to remember to get some anti-freeze (Pink stuff) thru the valve when you winterize. Should you forget, you'll be repeating this job in March. By the way - what's your hourly rate?

Thanks for the compliment! Odd that you should mention it, it did occur to me to insure the valve ended up pink for the winter, I just haven't purchased my anti-freeze yet. I'm considering a little 3 gallon compressor and thinking of rigging up one of those handy-dandy contraptions I saw on here to blow out my lines. Winterizing is my next job after cleaning the camper; I have to give the shower drain cover (the large one with carpet) a cleaning with Resolve because DH wanted to know exactly what would happen if we over filled our gray water tank. squish, squish...